your favorite TVR name
your favorite TVR name
Author
Discussion

scotty_d

Original Poster:

6,795 posts

220 months

Friday 10th August 2012
quotequote all
The Favorite model thing has been done to death but what model has the coolest name? And is there a description to what they all mean, I know some are mythical beasts?

I like The Cerb the beast that Guards the gates to hell now that is bad ass evil


Whats yours? and why?

Tanguero

4,535 posts

227 months

Friday 10th August 2012
quotequote all
scotty_d said:
I like The Cerb the beast that Guards the gates to hell now that is bad ass evil
[pedant]
Except it isn't! Cerberus was the multi-headed guardian on the banks of the Styx. Cerbera is a genus of highly poisonous plants otherwise known as the "suicide vine".
[/pedant]

ETA [uberpedant] Wasn't "Griffith" the name of an american TVR dealer rather than a corruption of 'griffin'?[/uber-pedant]

Edited by Tanguero on Friday 10th August 08:32

900T-R

20,406 posts

283 months

Friday 10th August 2012
quotequote all
I feel that 'Chimaera' was the best find from the Greek mythology catalogue, 'Cerbera' I like but it's already sort of scraping the barrel as they had to make it an adaptation, although the Italian 'fearsome woman' connotation is spot on again. 'Tamora' is OK albeit a bit stale in comparison, if you want to succeed something called the Chimaera it should be even more brutal somehow, and while 'Sagaris' doesn't roll of the tongue like 'Chimaera', it being a battle axe is again, quite fitting for the model it represented.

I always thought the T350 would have sold better and hold values closer to the Sagaris' had it had a proper name...

scotty_d

Original Poster:

6,795 posts

220 months

Friday 10th August 2012
quotequote all
Tanguero said:
scotty_d said:
I like The Cerb the beast that Guards the gates to hell now that is bad ass evil
[pedant]
Except it isn't! Cerberus was the multi-headed guardian on the banks of the Styx. Cerbera is a genus of highly poisonous plants otherwise known as the "suicide vine".
[/pedant]
It was the boundary between earth and the under world not a gate but a river some times known as Hades like its ruler so i stand corrected on that.

Tanguero

4,535 posts

227 months

Friday 10th August 2012
quotequote all
scotty_d said:
Same difference it was the boundary between earth and the under world not a gate but a river some times known as Hades like its ruler so i stand corrected on that.
My point was that the name is Cerberus rather than Cerbera.

FactoryPilot

1,352 posts

242 months

Friday 10th August 2012
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900T-R said:
I always thought the T350 would have sold better and hold values closer to the Sagaris' had it had a proper name...
I don't know, it didn't seem to do the T440R/T400R values any harm (not that many were made)....

scotty_d

Original Poster:

6,795 posts

220 months

Friday 10th August 2012
quotequote all
Tanguero said:
My point was that the name is Cerberus rather than Cerbera.
True but i still like it non the less tongue out

900T-R

20,406 posts

283 months

Friday 10th August 2012
quotequote all
FactoryPilot said:
(not that many were made)....
That, and some genuine race history. Oh, and didn't they call it Typhon when it threatened to actually be released as a production model? wink

BJWoods

5,018 posts

310 months

Friday 10th August 2012
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I believe this was intentional....

Sagaris - "The weapon was a kind of battle-axe"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagaris

Griffith - Jack Griffith

http://www.ridedrive.co.uk/classic-tvr-part1.htm

Alexdaredevilz

5,697 posts

205 months

Friday 10th August 2012
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Plastic pig

GAjon

4,039 posts

239 months

Friday 10th August 2012
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M - Copied by BMW and easier to spell than the others!

DonkeyApple

68,097 posts

195 months

Friday 10th August 2012
quotequote all
900T-R said:
That, and some genuine race history. Oh, and didn't they call it Typhon when it threatened to actually be released as a production model? wink
Ah, well, now there's a story.

Under PW they built the TuscanR race cars, these very quickly were re-named T400 after only a couple, mayne even one race car was delivered (the rear end changed).

At the same time they built 2 T400 road cars which between motor shows had their names changed as well, the red one remained a T400 and the Fleetwood Bronze one was rebadged a T440.

So, by the time they came to start making the customer cars they settled on T440. They also had the idea of supercharging the car as an option and that car was called the Typhon.

They built 4 customer cars. The first one was sold under PW's tenure as a T440 to LNT. Then PW sold the company to NS. NS held onto the 3 remaining cars for a couple of years, taking a customer's car for himself and leaving TVR to quickly set the second one up to the original customer spec (this is why there are two in the same Reflex Charcoal colour scheme). These two cars were built to T440 spec. The orange one was built to Typhon spec but never delivered to the customer as the SC generated far too much heat and the in house sequential box had a habit of locking up at speed.

In the end NS dropped the T440 name and called them all Typhon and sold the 2 Reflex Charcoal ones to customers. They retained the orange one and it moved to the new shed where they built the MkII Sag. During this time they continued to try and get the SC to work as it was being used as the development mule for NS' first new car the Typhoon.

As we know the company then folded and much of what was left over was I believe taken by Multipart in liue of a rather big bill TVR owed.

Typhon:

Typhon was the last son of Gaia, fathered by Tartarus, and the most deadly monster of Greek mythology. He was known as the "Father of all monsters"; his wife Echidna was likewise the "Mother of All Monsters."

Typhon was described in pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheke, as the largest and most fearsome of all creatures. His human upper half reached as high as the stars. His hands reached east and west and, instead of a human head, he had a hundred dragon heads; some however depict him as having a human head and the dragon heads being attached to his hands instead of fingers. He was feared even by the mighty gods. His bottom half was gigantic viper coils that could reach the top of his head when stretched out and made a hissing noise. His whole body was covered in wings, and fire flashed from his eyes.

Typhon attempts to destroy Zeus at the will of Gaia, because Zeus had imprisoned the Titans. Typhon overcomes Zeus in their first battle, and tears out Zeus' sinews. However, Hermes recovers the sinews and restores them to Zeus. Typhon is finally defeated by Zeus, who traps him underneath Mount Etna.

It does sound a little more intimidating than a shrub. biggrin

Tanguero

4,535 posts

227 months

Friday 10th August 2012
quotequote all
Ahhh- but it is a shrub so poisonous that you can't even burn the wood because the smoke will kill you. biggrin

DonkeyApple

68,097 posts

195 months

Friday 10th August 2012
quotequote all
Tanguero said:
Ahhh- but it is a shrub so poisonous that you can't even burn the wood because the smoke will kill you. biggrin
I'm sure its what the Knights of Ni had in mind. biggrin

cjj799

363 posts

205 months

Friday 10th August 2012
quotequote all
Tanguero said:
My point was that the name is Cerberus rather than Cerbera.
Those in IT will know that Microsoft use an authentication protocol called Kerberos. This is from the description in Wikipedia:

"The protocol was named after the character Kerberos (or Cerberus) from Greek mythology which was a monstrous three-headed guard dog of Hades"

Just thought I'd throw that one in.

SharkyTVR

130 posts

237 months

Friday 10th August 2012
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I like Tasmin & Tamora - if I ever have girl children this will be their names smile

I also love Cerbera, Vixen, Chimaera & Typhon but think the school bullies would have a field day with these laugh

They all have epic names tbh for an epic make of cars cloud9

spercy

143 posts

195 months

Friday 10th August 2012
quotequote all
900T-R said:
I always thought the T350 would have sold better and hold values closer to the Sagaris' had it had a proper name...
IIRC Top Gear said that the T350 needed a proper TVR name when then tested it and came up with "the Widow Maker"

Podie

46,649 posts

301 months

Friday 10th August 2012
quotequote all
spercy said:
900T-R said:
I always thought the T350 would have sold better and hold values closer to the Sagaris' had it had a proper name...
IIRC Top Gear said that the T350 needed a proper TVR name when then tested it and came up with "the Widow Maker"
It was Valhalla.

Dr Mike Oxgreen

4,447 posts

191 months

Friday 10th August 2012
quotequote all
Definitely my favourite name is Chimaera, because it fits the car so perfectly.

In Greek mythology, the Chimera (alternative spelling: Chimaera) was a fire-breathing beast with the head of a lion, the body of a goat and the tail of a serpent.

The TVR Chimaera is a fire-breathing roadster with the engine of a Range Rover, the gearbox of a Cossie, the rear lights of a Fiesta, etc. etc. etc.

ajp70

543 posts

212 months

Friday 10th August 2012
quotequote all
"His human upper half reached as high as the stars. His hands reached east and west and, instead of a human head, he had a hundred dragon heads; some however depict him as having a human head and the dragon heads being attached to his hands instead of fingers. He was feared even by the mighty gods. His bottom half was gigantic viper coils that could reach the top of his head when stretched out and made a hissing noise. His whole body was covered in wings, and fire flashed from his eyes."

I completely sympathize. I've had a couple of violent vindaloos too!

Also, Vixen doesn't translate into German very well. You'd be driving something implying manual sexual relief.

I do like it that many TVR models have names, even if they don't always translate favourably (French MR2 anyone?). But a car sounds better with a name which is why American muscle cars sound so cool - Mustang, Charger, Firebird, Cobra, Viper etc. I work for BMW and the model list sounds like a computer programme. Good cars, but 320d..zzzzzzl!